On a mission to save lives in need of blood

Vijayawada: With a motto that nobody should die due to shortage and non-availability of blood, ‘Simply Blood’ founder Kiran Verma of Delhi took up a ‘15,000 KM Walk’ to create awareness and encourage people to donate blood. He would cover India, Nepal and Bhutan. “My mission is to save 1 million potential lives through blood donation by 2020 using ‘Simply Blood’ platform,” he informed.

Everyday more than 12,000 people die in India due to lack of blood. “Our mission is to encourage at least 10 people every kilometre to take a pledge to donate blood once in their life. If this happens, then this 15,000 kms of journey is going to save 1,50,000 potential lives through blood donation,” he said.

Speaking to ‘The Hans India’, Kiran said ‘Simply Blood’ was world's first virtual blood donation platform and a first social media platform for blood donation.
He said the journey started on January 26 from Lal Chowk (Srinagar) and had covered 7,000 km to reach Vijayawada out of which he covered 2,900 km by walk.
   
He said that he met more than 6,00,000 people across Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Daman, Dadra Nagar Haveli, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala and Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.
He meets people at colleges, universities, public places like malls, restaurants, railway stations, bus stations etc. 

He informed that about 2,000 lives had been saved across 11 countries on ‘Simply Blood’ app. He said it was absolutely free on the app and nothing was charged from either donor or seeker by ‘Simply Blood’.

He said that he had donated 40 times since he was 18 years. He recalled he lost his mother when he was 7 years due to cancer and with that incident he realised the importance of a life, he said. He was moved when his blood was sold to a poor family in Delhi.